• Based on flexiWAN SD-WAN, Enea NFV Access and Advantech white boxes, these license-free, pre-integrated bundles facilitate uCPE adoption

• Service providers and enterprise can quickly test a fully automated and orchestrated SD-WAN solution featuring the Intel®-based Starter Kits and UBiqube MSActivator™ in Advantech Remote Evaluation Labs

Advantech (TWSE: 2395.TW) today announced two initiatives to ease open-source VNF integration concerns at the network edge. The first, the SD-WAN Starter Kit Program, streamlines the purchasing process of uCPE hardware with license-free software loads ready to deploy in a live network. The second, the SD-WAN Test-Drive Portal, helps service providers and enterprise IT departments gain early access to the kits for throughput testing and system sizing in Advantech’s RES labs. The lab also connects to cloud-based MANO from UBiqube for a unique integrated automation experience.

SD-WAN Starter Kits

Four different white-box SD-WAN Starter Kits are available to order.

The Slim CPE Starter Kit simplifies the development and testing of slim SD-WAN solutions based on the Advantech FWA-T011 with 2 CPU cores. Designed for bare metal deployments, the kit is pre-configured with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and the flexiWAN flexiEdge software installed as a Debian package. This makes it ideal for customers requiring lightweight SD-WAN connectivity with typical encrypted throughput of up to 200 Mbps.

When additional VNFs are required, the Entry to Mid-Range Starter Kits are configured with Enea NFV Access, a small footprint, high performance virtualization platform pre-installed on Advantech white box uCPEs. Based on the industry leading FWA-1012VC and the higher-performance FWA-3050, each kit includes two open-source VNFs: flexiWAN flexiEdge, an SD-WAN VNF, and pfSense, a network security VNF.

The SD-WAN Starter Kits are available at a promotional price for up to 3-unit deployments.

SD-WAN Test-Drive Portal

The four SD-WAN Starter Kits launched today are available for early testing through a new SD-WAN Test-Drive portal that is hosted in Advantech’s RES Lab. This remote evaluation portal allows customers to quickly test performance and functionality of the SD-WAN Starter Kits based on flexiWAN SD-WAN, Enea NFVI platform and Advantech uCPE white boxes, all orchestrated by UBiqube’s integrated automation platform MSActivator™. It provides an easy-to-use framework to validate different SD-WAN configurations, right-size uCPE hardware payloads and evaluate critical aspects such as scalability, security, usability, and openness.

“Advantech is taking a hands on approach in co-creating next generation networking solutions with the uCPE ecosystem. Our remote evaluation service connects customers to domain level experts and deployable NFV/SDN solutions which have created an upswing in demand for virtual proof-of-concepts.” said James Yang, VP Advantech Cloud IoT Group. “The starter kits are the next step in helping customers get on the fast track to deployment by offering integrated software solutions that run out of the box.”

”Multi-vendor integration is attractive for service providers and enterprises looking to gain flexibility and cost savings through uCPE-based SD-WAN solutions. The bundles and the RES lab’s ready-to-go evaluation approach provides an easy way to get started with multi-vendor SD-WAN.” said Adrian Leufvén, SVP OS Business Unit Enea.

“Through the Starter Kit and Test Drive Portal, service providers, systems integrators and enterprises can easily test flexiWAN in the lab or conduct POCs without a long technical and business process.” Said Amir Zmora, CEO & co-founder of flexiWAN. “The join work of all 4 partners changes the dynamics of the enterprise networking space bringing DNA of open system and hassle-free on-boarding”

“With MSActivator™, users can manage both Enea NFV Access and any VNF running on the uCPE through a single pane of glass. This integrated automation approach removes the complexity of managing and automating end-to-end services implemented on multi-vendor solutions,” said Herve Guesdon, CTO of UBiqube.

Key Software Components

Enea NFV Access is a complete NFVI platform designed for deployment at the customer premise, and optimized for common vCPE and SD-WAN use cases. Not based on OpenStack, it is able to provide full throughput and performance with minimal footprint. It depends on as little as one CPU core and scales to high-end Intel Xeon devices, leading to high deployment flexibility.

FlexiWAN flexiEdge is a centrally managed open-source SD-WAN VNF with integration points in its core that allow for 3rd party logic to be integrated in a performance efficient way. Delivered as an open source package, it is democratizing the second Wave of SD-WAN, allowing enterprises and service providers to better manage and control their networks, and improve the way data/traffic is handled.

UBiqube MSActivator™ is the leading Integrated Automation Platform (IAP) that streamlines the System Integration and Process Automation journey for digital infrastructure. Multi-Domain and Multi-Vendor Integration for Infrastructure Automation is the essence of the MSActivator™ (MSA) framework. MSA uses highly abstracted device and function modelling to eliminate the integration pain associated with distributed infrastructures and provides an easy path to holistic Multi Domain Process Automation.

Live Demo available online, as well as interviews with Paul Stevens, Marketing Director, Advantech Cloud IoT Group

Related Content

• Remote Evaluation Service Portal: testdrive-advantech-nfv.com/
• Download the Intel Solution Brief: advantech.com/nc/spotlight/flexiwan/docs/Intel-Solution-Brief-Advantech-Enea-flexiWAN-UBiqube.pdf
• Starter Kits: advantech.com/nc/spotlight/flexiwan/starter-kits.asp